You know I LOVE Pinterest, right? As a designer, I use it all the time and it’s a fantastic tool (along with Houzz) for getting home interior design ideas and inspiration, and sometimes finding a perfect piece of furniture. But…have you ever clicked on a link for something you were interested in on Pinterest and the link didn’t go to the place where you could buy it? Maybe it went to the right website, but the piece was no longer available, or maybe it took you to an Italian website, or a blog, or somewhere else completely. That’s where it can be a bit frustrating. You find home interior design ideas you love, but then you can’t SOURCE them so you can’t actually use them in your room makeover or renovation.

I recently sent a board to some clients with several ideas for bathrooms on it (it’s below). Now, the difference between this board and what you see sometimes on Pinterest, is that ALL these items can be sourced. Right now. Today. In the United States. They are not just home interior design ideas that I liked the look of – they are items that can be ordered, purchased and installed.

Home Interior Design CAVdesign

Here is how to put together this kind of board once you’ve found what you like on Pinterest. I call it creating a ‘real-life’ board. Rather than using Pinterest, I suggest using Word, Power Point, Google Slides, Pages, or any program you feel comfortable with. For everything you found that is accessible and can be purchased put it on your board.

Did you lose a few things that you really liked? Here is the ‘perspiration’ part. You need to make like Sherlock and find similar items that are available in real life. Here’s how:

Head back to the inspiration images you fell in love with and make a list of KEYWORDS to use to narrow your search. The main categories I use are:

Now, use these keywords when you head back out to the web and to stores to find things that are similar to the home interior design ideas you fell in love. It will be a much faster search when you know how to describe, in detail, what you really want.

Happy Hunting!

Want to find out, step-by-step, how to tackle your project and get it to the finish line with dreamy results? Oh, and did I mention you could find all this out FOR FREE? Grab my e-book, 10 Steps to your Perfect Room Makeover. Just click on the box below!